MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Argentina back in the list of “key” countries for the US

Argentina was included in a list of Latinamerican “key” countries for the US State Department and with whom the US is intent in having closer relations. The description belongs to US Deputy Secretary of State for hemispheric relations Thomas Shannon, during a speech at the University of Miami in Coral Gables, Florida.

Top of the list is Brazil, followed by Mexico, Chile, Colombia, Peru and now Argentina. With this purpose next month a full delegation headed by Mr. Shannon and with representatives from the State Department, Treasury and Education among other US government agencies will be visiting Buenos Aires to meet with their counterparts. According to reports in the Argentine press although the President Bush administration is outgoing, --elections next November and a new president in January 2009--, the objective of the State Department is to "tidy" affairs with Latinamerica for the incoming government, be it Democrat or Republican. Mr. Shannon has close relations with the academia and research centres, from both parties, with an interest in Latinamerica as well as knowing several of the possible candidates for his job and other posts related to the hemisphere. The announcement represents a significant U turn for relations between Argentina and United States following the case of the suitcase stashed with 800.000 US dollars which a US/Venezuelan resident, Guido Alejandro Antonini Wilson tried to introduce in Buenos Aires but was caught last August. Ramifications of the case led to the arrest in Miami of four alleged Venezuelan agents who called on Antonini Wilson to remind him to keep silent about the origin of the money, which one of the suspects finally confessed (last January) to US federal prosecutors was from the Venezuelan government in support of then Mrs. Kirchner's presidential campaign. President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner was furious with the allegations and said it was a "garbage operation" organized by the US State Department against her and her incoming administration. The Argentine Congress also held a special session to repudiate the leak from the Miami federal prosecution. The State Department pointed out that in the US, the Judiciary is independent and decided to temporarily cool relations including the acceptance process for the new Argentine ambassador Hector Timerman. However five months later relations seem back on course and Shannon addressing the Hemispheric Policy Center of the Miami University stated that the Bush administration has been actively and with great persistence working to obtain partners in Latinamerica. Finally this "strategic patience" had been fruitful and the list includes Argentina, although the praise and longest dedication was for Brazil described as one of the "emerging democratic powers".